October 28, 2009
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And Now…The NEWS!!!!
Happy Birthday Nicoley Bolyey Macaroni Hangin’on a Telephone Poley!!!
The Daily News
1 And many happy returns.
2 Lovin’ it. Nicole had a class pic taken with the classes she is teaching yesterday, and it cuted me to smiles. Each kid had some story behind the ears and smiles, so it was definitely a great teaching moment.
3 She puts everything into her teaching, and still has to pull stuff out of a hat once in a while. That happened to her yesterday, and she had one of her best lessons ever.
4 We had one of those talks where we BOTH had AWESOME teaching days, which happens every now and again, although lately mine have been much more nows than agains!
5 It was fun seeing her learn how to improv when the carefully structured lesson goes awry. It’s one thing to hang in there like a bad pitching inning, it’s refined when she turns it into a dynamite lesson despite the setback. Therein lies the difference of a new teacher to a seasoned veteran.
6 She turned it around and it worked with her students. Can you ask for a better birthday present than to have a successful day with kids you are trying to reach?
7 Awesome, girl! Have a beautiful birthday!!!
8 Am I proud? Does it show? Haha, well yes, and yes!
9 Moving on: I had perhaps my own best day of the year yesterday with the Heidi Chronz. I know people probably think it’s the same ol’ schtick, but really, it changes from year to year. It changes because the story keeps happening, so the time frame for telling the story gets shorter with each falling leaf.
10 My challenge yesterday was trying to keep the story rolling while adding all the new things in recent years. The older stories STILL rock beyond belief, but the newer ones are more relevant to this batch of students.
11 If you know the Chronz, in several periods I had to completely leave out the time that we brought the lights up and down when setting them for Kristi Parker’s singing of the song Winter. Also missing from this year’s stories were the stories of Moon Dreams and Blue Moon, when the entire cast heard a little girl singing Blue Moon backstage. Both are fun stories, but time took its toll on those.
12 Everything else rocked the house all day long. The theatre became ice cold during the Titanic stories for the first three periods in the morning. A ghostly glow lingered in a spot in the houselights right over the area of the theatre where the seats clicked in YB’s theatre so many years ago. When I went to the lobby and came back in, the glow disappeared! I naturally thought I must have adjusted the houselights, but when I got home, it occurred to me that I probably didn’t.
13 Anyway, by the end of the school day, I had students who had no seventh period coming in just to listen, a full house, and an attentive one!
14 It’s funny because I had been nervous the night before, practicing my pieces several times so that I would have the story down and scripted. In the morning, nobody was there to let me in the theatre, which never stopped me, so I managed to get in anyway, but the light booth was out. I had to depend on a lantern I bought at CPR, or whatever Long’s is called now. It was great, a little $10 flickering Halloween lamp worked magic all morning, and it was darker than ever, AND it got cold!
15 I just got into a grand groove and never left it, all day long. The scares worked genuinely, I brought up newer things, like ATFNL’s haunted house, and all the Van Gogh stuff during Lovebirds, as well as the newer “hauntings” that made their way up to the Chill-on-the Hill. I brought in many people who read the DN, countless in number, and so many readers of this should know that they are officially legend.
16 Added to all of it was the blustery, beautiful fall winds, which as this is being written are making the wind chimes celebrate in the darkness of my back yard.
17 I’m convinced my Mom puts herself into those chimes just to let me know things are cool. I’m also convinced my Mom has met Heidi lol!
18 Anyway, it was an awesome day every single period. The students held on to one another for dear life, laughed together, screamed together, and applauded in the end.
19 When I got home, I was buzzing for the first two hours, knowing that all the planning and work were worth it.
20 And it was 10-27-09, a 19 when you add them up. Ones and nines play a major role in the story. On my way to school, a school bus flew past me. I looked at its number.
21 It was a nine.
22 Not too many other modern occurrences, although I personally will place the vanishing and re-appearances of Facebook posts were a major part of this years Chronz, because the posts that disappeared or came back happened at moments that were clearly relevant personally.
23 Moving on, Part the Second: I was also honored yesterday to be invited to be a judge at this year’s Homecoming, which is the fourth year in a row I have been invited by the ASB. I realize my position as a former Activites Director warranted a lot of it, but to me, it’s always an honor to be a chosen to be one of the five or six judges. There’s something fun about being a large part of EV’s early history.
24 I guess that’s about it. A happy birthday salute to a beautiful daughter, and a brag sheet about one guy who had a deliriously grand day. We all have them, and so it isn’t such a great accomplishment as it is a thing that happens periodically to all of us.
25 Two days ago I had a bad one, and vowed to turn it around right away. It worked is all.
26 Always a great way to view bad days: sometimes they’re just testing your character. It is always important to pay attention and to come out swinging the next day. That usually works, or at least it has for me.
27 This time it became an awesome day, which translates in this case into rocking memories not only for myself, but for all my students as well. It worked better perhaps than it ever has, and that’s not a small statement.
28 I’m still buzzing from the adrenalin. I had a cool hat, cool tie, and everything simply worked, so I feel I won a championship yesterday. I had to share it, since I wasn’t sure two days ago if I was walking in or into doors.
29 Yesterday they opened beyond all expectations, and past and present joined in a grand day.
30 Hope you have a good one today too!
31 Live life, love life. And another Happy Birthday to my gorgeous daughter Nicoley!!!
32 Peace, y’all!!!
~H~
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